The present invention relates generally to a lever type connector usable for connecting wire harnesses to each other or connecting a wire harness to an electric device or instrument with a low insertion force.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional lever type connector a.
Referring to FIG. 8, the lever type connector a is constructed in such a manner that an upper wall d and a lower wall e of a female connector housings, c, c' and c" having a plurality of terminals b arranged thereon extend in the direction intersecting the inserting/drawing direction of a male connector g at a right angle. The female connector housings c, c' and c" are located adjacent to each other with a hollow space therebetween so as to permit a cam lever f, which is to be described later, to be inserted into the hollow space and retracted from the same. Male connectors g, g' and g" are arranged corresponding to the female connector housings c, c' and c", respectively.
A pair of sliding slots k are formed in the central portion of side walls h of the female connector housing c for guiding pins j' and j" projecting from side walls j of the male connector g.
The cam lever f, of which one end is connected to an actuating plate m, is rotatably supported not only in a joint portion between adjacent female connector housings c, c' and c" but also on the opposite outer side surfaces of each female connector housing to rotate about a cam shaft n extending along rear edge of the upper wall d. In addition, eccentric cam grooves p are formed in the cam lever f. The eccentric cam grooves are confronted with side wall surfaces of the female connector housings c, c' and c" to serve as sliding means for slidably displacing the pins j' on the male connector g along the eccentric cam groove p.
While the cam lever f is held in the initial state, it is resiliently biased by springs (not shown) to assume the position where an actuating plate m of the cam lever f stands upright.
In the drawing, reference character q designates a base board to which leads b' extending from the terminals b are connected.
With the conventional lever type connector a constructed in the above-described manner, the male connector g is fitted into the female connector housing c while the pins j' on the male connector g are inserted into the sliding slots k and the eccentric cam grooves p which positionally overlap each other.
When each pin j' reaches the position where it abuts against a side wall p' located in the vicinity of an opening portion of the eccentric cam groove p, a provisional engagement projection r, protruding from the bottom wall of the male connector g, is received in a groove s formed on the inner wall surface of the female connector housing c beyond a stepped part t of the groove s, whereby the foregoing position is sensed by an operator who subsequently stops further insertion of the male connector g so as to hold it in a half fitted state (see FIG. 9(A).
Similarly, the other male connectors g' and g" are inserted into the female connector housings c' and c", and thereafter, the actuating plate m of the cam lever f is rotated in the direction of arrow F.
As the cam lever f is rotated in that way, the eccentric cam groove p slidably moves along the pin j' which in turn is displaced in such a direction that the male connector g is deeply inserted into the female connector housing c. Finally, the male connectors g, g' and g" are fully inserted into the female connector housings c, c' and c" to reach the completely fitted positions as shown in FIG. 9(C).
However, with the conventional lever type connector, there sometimes arises a malfunction in that the cam lever f is erroneously rotated in the F arrow-marked direction to assume the state as represented by solid lines in FIG. 9(B) when the pin j' on the first male connector g collides against the side wall p' located in the vicinity of the opening portion of the eccentric cam groove p on the cam lever f with an excessively large magnitude of inserting force while the first male connector g is held in the female connector housing c in the half fitted state.
At this time, since the opening portion of the eccentric cam groove p on the cam lever f is positionally offset downward of its correct position, there arises another malfunction that when the next male connector g' is inserted into the female connector housing c', the opening portion of the eccentric groove p can not be displaced to the position located corresponding to the pin j' on the next male connector g' unless the cam lever f is rotated in the F' arrow-marked direction with an operator's hand until it is retracted to the initial state represented by two-dot chain lines shown in FIG. 9(b). Consequently, each connector fitting operation is achieved at a low efficiency because of the aforementioned problems.